ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (May 31) – In response to National Weather Service forecasts predicting the potential for major flooding in areas along the Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers and their tributaries, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District, activated its Emergency Operations Center on Tuesday, May 28. The District has also opened its remote Emergency Operations Center in the Quincy, Ill., area May 30, to more quickly address flood response needs.
The Corp’s Rock Island District, through its Emergency Management mission, is assisting cities and communities with flood-fight supplies and technical support upon request. Those efforts include deploying specially trained Flood Area Engineers (FAEs) to provide technical assistance to local emergency managers and providing expedient flood fighting equipment and supplies to include HESCO barriers, sandbags, pumps and plastic sheeting.
The District has approximately 100 specially trained flood area engineers who contact drainage and levee districts to coordinate flood-fighting activities and ensure flood-fighting supplies are available if needed. Fifteen flood area engineers are in the field providing flood-fighting support.
The District has a stock of 4.5 million sandbags, 111 pumps and miles of sheeting ready for deployment. Additional flood-fight material will be procured as needed. Currently, 60,500 sandbags, 13 pumps, 203 rolls of sheeting and 4,950 feet of HESCO Bastion flood-fight barriers have been dispatched.
The Rock Island District’s Emergency Management mission serves communities in a 78,000-square-mile, five-river-basin area which includes Iowa and Illinois and portions of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Missouri. Communities facing flood events can request Corps assistance through their state emergency management agency.
For more information please visit our Rock Island District Flood Web site at www.mvr.usace.army.mil/About/Offices/EmergencyManagement/2013Flood.aspx.
Release no. FY13-05-22